Depression and Personality

Depression and Personality: Conceptual and Clinical
Challenges offers an intriguing new look at where we are in
understanding the relationship between personality dimensions, disorders,
and mood disorder. It is both a cogent update of conceptual models and a
clearly written, practical guide to the challenges faced every day by
clinicians as they treat patients with depression and bipolar
disorder.

Laying the groundwork for subsequent chapters, the editors
emphasize the value of not only robust pharmacotherapy augmented by
psychosocial interventions (with a focus on the assets rather than the
liabilities of a patient's temperament), but also of a detailed review of
where we are today.

An introductory overview provides valuable
historical perspective on the evolution of personality from "humors" to body
constitution and temperament. In 10 informative chapters, 22 contributors discuss


* The neurobiological dimensions of personality, focusing on
affect-related traits as they review the evidence for serotonin and
norepinephrine disturbance based on challenge paradigms, and the range of
models to understand the interrelationship between personality and
depression.
* The justification for depressive personality in both
categorical terms, i.e., adding to the diagnostic armamentarium of DSM-V,
and dimensional terms, focusing on the Five Factor Model to provide a link
between several facets of neuroticism and depressive personality disorder.

* The impact of personality on various aspects of treatment, filling in
a gap in the pharmacotherapy literature by asserting that personality
pathology can affect the patient's capacity to seek, be engaged in, or be
compliant with treatment.
* Key assessment and treatment issues,
recommending a multimodal phased treatment approach that involves targeted
pharmacotherapy and integrated individual psychotherapy.
* The role of
personality disorder in the assessment and treatment of chronic depression,
with a concise, practical overview of medication and psychotherapy issues
regarding the role of Axis II disorders, and the complex relationship
between bipolar disorder and personality factors.
* The complexity
involved in adolescent depression with personality disorder, providing a
conceptual framework for understanding what factors of personality
contribute to vulnerability for depression in adolescents, and depression in
later life, including particularly relevant issues such as the role of
physical illness and organic factors on the clinical presentation of
personality and affective disorder

Invaluable reading for clinicians
and researchers alike, Depression and Personality: Conceptual and
Clinical Challenges offers fascinating perspectives on the
historical antecedents, neurobiological dimensions, and conceptual models
regarding the relationship between personality and depression.